More Commoners?
by poetofnothing
Summary: When Katsuko and Motoko sign up to be exchange students to Japan, they never expect for their host family to be the Hitachiin family, or to be able to attend Ouran. They did, however, expect utter randomness to ensue. Rated T for possible language.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! This is a fanfiction I'm co-writing with a friend. Sorry the first chapter is so short, I've had this weird case of writer's block for a few months now, which is why my other fanfictions haven't been updated in, like, ever. I'm gonna try to get new chapters for everything soon, but with school and all it might be hard. Fear not, there will be new chapters for everything! Eventually...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own OHC, nor any characters in it. **

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><p>Mother dabbed at her eyes once more. "I just…I can't believe you're off to see the world. Leaving us behind…I should have known you'd want to spread your wings early and leave me before college…"<p>

"Uhm, Mom…?" Spread my wings? What kind of nonsense was that? I squirmed as she pulled me into yet another giant bear hug. "I'm gonna miss my flight…Mo's already waiting for me at the gate…and I've yet to go through security…"

She released me, handing me my boarding pass and smiling tearfully. "Be good…study hard…send me letters! Or email me! Whichever one, just keep in touch!"

"Alright, Mom, alright." I chuckled, giving her one last hug before grabbing my carry-on and my backpack, rushing to stand in line at security. A young woman, an employee of the airline, stayed with me after Mom left, accompanying me through security until I got to my gate.

"Motoko!" I shouted, tackle-hugging her.

"Ooof!" She said, managing to keep her place in her book. "Hi, Katsuko."

"We're going to JAPAN! Can you believe it? Japan! And all its…Japan-y-ness!" I checked our tickets, verifying we had seats next to each other. Yes! They were! "See, we're sitting next to each other!" I bounced excitedly.

"I think we're in first class, too." She commented, peering at the seat aisle.

"Really?" I asked. "Awesome! I've never flown first class before!"

"Indeed. The first class part of the plane, the land of full meals and leg room." She joked.

"Thank goodness, too. I do love my legroom and full meals when I'm going to be stuck in a giant flying metal tube for sixteen hours." I said, rummaging through my backpack to make sure I brought my entertainment: iPod, books, DS, and other such items.

An employee at the desk came over the loudspeaker. "Passengers, we are about to board Flight 376, with service to Tokyo, Japan. At this time we wish to pre-board all passengers traveling with small children or those in wheelchairs."

I felt my heart beating just a tad faster. "We're really doing it, Mo. We're going to JAPAN. To LIVE THERE. For an entire SCHOOL YEAR."

Motoko opened her mouth to say something, but the woman came over the loudspeaker again. "We would now like to welcome aboard all our passengers flying business or first class."

We hurried to the podium, handing an airline employee our tickets to scan, then walked aboard the plane, stashing our carry-ons in the overhead bins and putting our backpacks under the seats in front of us.

I sat down in my window seat, and sighed. "I'm telling you, Mo, this is the way to travel." I said, wiggling to become a bit more comfortable in the cushioned first class seat.

"Oh, yes. I would travel this way MUCH more often were it not so expensive." Motoko rolled her eyes at me.

"Hey, hey, you pay the price if you want legroom. And an actual meal. And actual entertainment, other than a movie and a drink." I stretched my legs until they hit the seat in front of me (which still wasn't very much, but what could one expect on an airplane?). "You see? The poor suckers back there can't do that. Their legs ALREADY touch the seat in front of them."

"Eh. True."

Our conversation was at a minimum as the plane took off, since I preferred to stare out the window and watch America fade into the horizon and the deep blue of the Pacific Ocean run endlessly under our speeding plane. Motoko took to listening to music on her iPod, tapping her foot to the beat of the music and trying to drown out the hum of both the airplane engines and the idle chitchat of those on the plane.

After a while, I got bored of staring at endless blue, so I pulled out one of the many reading books I had packed in my backpack. Motoko read over my shoulder, an almost instinctional thing for us. Since our book interests aligned almost perfectly, any book I read she read, and any book she read I read. And sometimes, like now, we read them at the same time.

I must have fallen asleep sometime around Chapter 12, because the next thing I knew, Motoko was shaking me awake. It was pretty dark outside the window, and the plane's cabin was only brightly lit near those who wanted it to be.

"We're about to land in Tokyo!" she whispered hurriedly. We both pressed up against the window, seeking our first glimpse at the country we'd been waiting our entire life to visit. And now we were going to, and not just for a week or two. An entire SCHOOL YEAR.

My excitement levels were about as high as a little kid who was just told he could live at Disney World.


	2. Chapter 2

**Normally commentary and other stuff would go up here. But I have nothing to say. Other than: ENJOY!**

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><p>I couldn't stop smiling like an idiot as we got off the plane. Looking over to my right, I saw Kat practically bouncing off the walls. "This is so cool!" She squealed as we started walking to the baggage carousel. "I can hardly believe it! We're actually <em>in Japan<em>!"

Smile morphing to a smirk, I grabbed my army duffel off the moving belt, still scanning for Kat's bright blue luggage. "Ya know, if our host family is half as excited for this as you are, we might not make it to the first day of class alive."

Kat stuck her tongue out at me and I giggled. In truth, I was just as excited as Katsuko. We were both born in sunny Southern California, but for whatever odd reason, both of us were given Japanese first names, despite our completely Euro bred parents. Best friends since preschool, coming to Japan had been our shared dream for almost that long. _And it was happening! _Whilst grabbing the back of Kat's shirt and pulling her back to keep her from knocking down several other passengers going by,I silently blessed her older sister Madison for getting us here. If she hadn't submitted us for the exchange program, we'd still be sitting on Kat's bed talking about being here.

Finally managing to find her neon colored bags, Kat snatched them up and we started making our way to the front of the airport.

"Do you think their house will be tatami style? Oh, wouldn't it be great if we ended up sharing a room? I wonder if we'll have much trouble with the cultural differences. Oh my gosh, do you think they'll think we're rude if we do something without knowing its wrong in their culture? I hope we don't get lost trying to get around in the streets!"

"I _really_ shouldn't have let you have that soda, huh?" I shook my head. How could I have forgotten the cardinal rule for taking Kat somewhere and keeping her from being too hyper? You _never, ever_ give Kat anything with sugar. I should have remembered that.

"I hope we don't screw up saying something in Japanese!"

I froze momentarily. Why hadn't I thought of that? "Damn it, Kat, I really hate it when you raise a valid point in the midst of a sugar buzz." The brat just giggled.

By this time, we were at the front of the airport, right by the front desks, and I realized something at the same time that Kat voiced it. "Hey, they never did tell us the name of our host family, did they?" My eye twitched, and I turned around to face her with the sort of motions that reminded one of a wooden puppet.

"Crap, they didn't. But it should be fine, I mean, they did say there would be someone here to pick us up, right?" Just as Kat was nodding in response, a voice floated over to us through all of the noise and babble of the busy airport, and it seemed to be calling for a Miss Ichihara and a Miss Mashikito. Suddenly, I felt nervous, which was completely ridiculous, but a glance at Kat showed that even she was reacting to the prospect of meeting our "family" for the next nine months by coming down off of her sugar craze. We exchanged a look and a nod before turning to scan the crowd for the person calling for us. There was no smiling family with two children running about the place and a homemade sign welcoming us to their home and, more generally, Japan. Instead there was a man holding up a small neatly printed sign with our last names on it. Kat looked unsure, but I just walked up to him and said, "Hello, I take it you are to be our ride then, as those are our last names."

"Yes, miss, I am to be your ride to the house." The uniformed man tried to take my duffel, but I side stepped and put Kat in front of him instead. He shrugged and took her luggage instead. We walked out the doors and I expected to see a town car or something like that, but our driver walked straight past the one sitting directly in front of the doors and went right to-

"A limo?" Kat and I chorused together. Once again, we exchanged glances. Kat stepped forward and got in the back of it. I clambered in after her and shifted my duffel around to sit next to my feet. I pulled out my I-pod and put in one ear bud as Kat grabbed the other. As she took the I-pod from me and started scrolling through the music, I looked at the brunette beside me and thought how different and yet how similar we are. Her hair is a beautiful chestnut color, straight and down to her shoulders, while mine is a boring coffee brown and wavy all the way to my waist. Her eyes are a bright jade green, while I once again have features the color of coffee. Both our faces are oval shaped and we both have freckles, but while my features have been categorized as a "baby face," Kat's are more mature looking. Her nose is a bit more upturned than is usual, and her dimples stand out on her face when she is happy or excited, like right now. One thing about Kat's appearance that is even more unusual than her personality would be her pupils. They are very small and, in contrast with my rather large ones, it makes for an odd pair. As much as it pisses me off, Kat is about a quarter of an inch taller and a bit lighter too, though that part doesn't bug me as much.

Kat is always hyper and forgetful, sometimes even forgetting things as important her own address. While I cannot deny that was an eventful evening, ending with her big sister picking us up in Chinatown, fifty miles away from both our neighborhoods, it can get pretty inconvenient. It makes her seem a lot less intelligent than she is, a thing that has irked me ever since that one teacher in elementary school tried to separate us by trying to put Kat in Special Ed. Tried would be the key word in that sentence. Music and reading are some of the only things that can calm my wild friend down.

Some people have said that I act like Kat's keeper and I suppose that's true. We usually balance each other out, my usual calmness serving to either tone down or contrast with her crazy streak. A thing we've shared for as long as we can remember though is that we procrastinate. A lot. Joint projects are hell, as it usually ends with one of us being a task master in order to keep the other one moving. Though our individual ways of procrastinating differ. Kat usual manages to get things done, if there is some importance attached to them. I am a slightly different story. I love to slack, and put off doing projects. And deadlines? If it weren't for the last minute, I'd never get anything done.

I was jolted from my musings by the door being opened and Kat poking me in the side to induce movement. I scooted out and grabbed my bag after Kat exited the limo as well. I glanced at her and then in the general direction of her gawking. My jaw hit the floor about a half second before my duffel did. Kat was right to gawk, the place was _huge._ Four stories at the least and a pure white that shouldn't have been possible for an outdoor building, with enormous columns flanking the front doors that were set at the top of a grand set of steps, the estate in front of us was impressive, to say the least.

Our driver chuckled and said, "Pretty nice, isn't it?" We nodded mutely, still staring openly. I ripped my gaze away from the mansion to glance at Kat. She glanced at me and then we stepped forward to get her bags from the trunk. This was certainly not what either of us was expecting. Once Kat and Mr. Driver Guy had a secure grip on her luggage, I picked up my duffel from where I had dropped it and headed up the stairs. The doors were opened by a maid just as we reached the top.

"Oh, hello there. Mr. and Mrs. Hitachiin are out at the moment, as they didn't expect you until later in the day. The young Mr.'s Hitachiin are at school, as well." She said as she opened the door wide. We brought all of our bags inside and the maid closed the door behind us. Two more maids filed in through a side door and the first maid, gesturing at them, said, "These two will take your bags and I will show you to your rooms." The two maids stepped forward in unison, hands extended. Kat piled her assorted bags in one of the girls' arms, while I gently place my duffel in the others outstretched hands. She staggered under the weight, but seemed to manage alright. The head maid motioned forward and began walking toward the stairs. I suddenly felt queasy, so I moved closer to Kat till I was brushing her arm with mine. She turned her head toward me and gave an encouraging smile. Then she flung an arm 'round my shoulders and we started walking.

After a few hundred hallways and smaller staircases, she stopped in the middle of a hallway, and said, "Here we are. Miss Katsuko is on the left and Miss Motoko is on the right. Your things should be inside. If you require any assistance, just call." And with that, our guide left us, standing in a hallway, staring at two sets of double doors. I gave Kat a little shove towards the one that had been indicated as hers, and she walked forward and placed her hands on the door handles. I did the same, and said, "Alright SuSu, on three. One, two, **three.**" And we flung the doors open and stepped in.

"It's so…pink." Everything, everything was pink. The walls, the carpet, the furniture, everything. I checked the door as a last resort. Maybe there was a little sister or something and I was accidentally taken to her room instead of the one they _really_ meant for me. But no, the plaque holder on the door was empty, but there was a piece of paper taped to the door that said, quite plainly, "Motoko's Room".

Judging by the ecstatic squealing coming from Kat's room next door, they read the bio Maddi filled out and created a bookworm's haven. They still might have made some sort of mistake, but they _had_ put Kat's room right next to this one. Oh well, I would just have to ask for the room to be redecorated. I mean, these people were loaded after all. They shouldn't mind. I wonder where the hell they got the idea I was this in love with the color pink. Madison wouldn't have mixed up my appreciation for the artist P!nk with a love for the color, would she? Whatever the case, Kat seemed to love her room.

"Mo, oh my gosh, Mo come here!" Kat tore into the room and stopped dead. "Don't even." I growled at her, but too late. Kat busted out in howling, hysterical laughter. I glowered at her, but this only served to fuel her giggles. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms grumpily. This was going to be quite a long school year if Maddi made more mistakes in my bio.


End file.
